Asia News & Opinion

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo's Shibuya ward has become the first locale in Japan to recognize same sex partnerships as the "equivalent of a marriage," guaranteeing the identical rights of married couples, including hospital visitations and apartment rentals....

Singapore teen Amos Yee has been charged with three offences for a video uploaded to YouTube in which he made remarks about Christianity and former leader Lee Kuan Yew, who died on March 21 at the age of 91....

MALE, Maldives (AP) — The Maldives' Parliament has passed a law that strips people serving prison sentences of their political party memberships, a rule critics say is designed to oust jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed from politics....

'Money Logging: On the Trail of the Asian Timber Mafia' by Lukas Straumann is a controversial book that uncovers the modus operandi of a multi-billion timber industry accused of wiping out the ancient rainforests of Sarawak, home of the last nomadic tribes of Southeast Asia in the heart of Borneo, Malaysia....

A eulogy has strange powers. It brings the dead back to life as we listen, enthralled by captivating stories about what he did, who he was, and what he aspired towards. For as long as we listened, Mr Lee Kuan Yew lived; time was suspended and we re-lived his life as the founder of a nation, as a statesman, and as a father and husband. But just as surely as all eulogies must end, so must our moment of fantasy....

Two days before Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away, on March 21, Jeraldine Phneah published a post titled, “A Middle Ground Perspective on Lee Kuan Yew’s death”. In her article, Ms Phneah, a 24-year-old lifestyle blogger, wrote that she would feel sad, “but not extremely so” about Mr Lee’s death. She explained that Mr Lee did not deserve all the credit for Singapore's success, that Mr Lee had lived a good life for 91 years, and that he did not exactly "sacrifice a lot" for Singapore....